The Way We Live Now · Chapter
The Dinner explained
As Melmotte hosts a grand dinner for the Emperor of China and other royalty, many invited guests conspicuously absent themselves due to rumors of forgery.
What happens
As Melmotte hosts a grand dinner for the Emperor of China and other royalty, many invited guests conspicuously absent themselves due to rumors of forgery. Melmotte, unaware of the specific charges, grows increasingly agitated as he notices the empty seats and presses his allies for an explanation, but they evade him. The chapter contrasts the splendor of the event with the underlying social and political crisis.
Themes in this chapter
Speculation and Ruin
Melmotte's precarious financial empire is on the verge of collapse, symbolized by the empty seats at his dinner as guests flee from the scandal.
Deception and Hypocrisy
The guests' concern is not Melmotte's guilt but whether the Emperor will attend, revealing the hypocrisy of high society.
Social Mobility and Class
Melmotte's attempt to ascend through lavish entertainment is undermined by the withdrawal of aristocratic and political support.
Characters to notice
- Augustus Melmotte
Hosts the grand dinner, becomes anxious and bewildered as many guests fail to appear, and desperately seeks answers from his allies.
- Lord Alfred Grendall
Melmotte's reluctant ally, evasive and surly when questioned about the absentees, anxious to avoid attention.
- Lord Nidderdale
Present at the dinner, having heard the rumor but choosing not to abandon Melmotte yet.
- Mr. Cohenlupe
Attends the dinner, though no one has spoken to him about the scandal.
- Mr. Todd
A wealthy City friend of Melmotte, present at the dinner, deflects Melmotte's questions about the absentees.
- Beauchamp Beauclerk
A political ally of Melmotte attending the dinner, evades Melmotte's inquiries about the missing Conservative guests.
- Lady Monogram
Present at the dinner, though not explicitly named in the excerpt; inferred from context of society guests.
- Sir Damask Monogram
Present at the dinner, inferred from context of society guests.
Key passages
“It does sometimes occur in life that an unambitious man, who is in no degree given to enterprises, who would fain be safe, is driven by the cruelty of circumstances into a position in which he must choose a side, and in which, though he has no certain guide as to which side he should choose, he is aware that he will be disgraced if he should take the wrong side.”
Even cautious, unambitious people can be forced by events to take a stand, knowing they risk disgrace if they choose wrongly.
Introduces the dilemma faced by many invited guests deciding whether to attend Melmotte's dinner.
“They did not care whether Melmotte was arrested at the dinner or after the dinner, so long as they, with others, could show their diamonds in the presence of eastern and western royalty.”
The guests were indifferent to Melmotte's guilt; they only cared about displaying their wealth before royalty.
Highlights the hypocrisy and vanity of society.
“If a prince of our own was forced, for the good of the country, to go among some far distant outlandish people, and there to be poked in the ribs, and slapped on the back all round, the change to him could hardly be so great.”
The Emperor of China must feel as out of place at this Western dinner as a Western prince would among a foreign, unfamiliar people.
Reflects on the cultural dislocation of the Chinese Emperor.
